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Non-Kosher Email

Reading Wired magazine this past weekend (insert your favorite Tricia-wants-to-be-a-nerd comment here), I ran across a new term—“Bacn” (http://bacn2.com). Coined in August at PodCamp Pittsburgh, it means permission email you opt-in for, never read, then delete. The recipient wanted the email at the time of opt-in but just can’t find the time or will to read. The email marketing world is chock full of bacn. Most email marketers would agree that bacn is the result of non-relevant email.

So I ask, in making bacn, which half of the relevance equation is broken—content or timeliness?

—Tricia Robinson-Pridemore of StrongMail

Posted on November 13, 2007 8:36 AM | Permalink

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Comments (2)

Bill Wagner:

Both. You opt into something on the assumption that relevant content will follow, and then the reality of time/mental capacity intervenes which raises the bar on relevance. Your willingness to open/read the subscription depends on relevance and available time/capacity. If something is UBER relevant when you see it enter the inbox, you'll stop and read it. If something is mildly relevant and you've got plenty of time to kill (e.g., on a flight), you'll read it.

Posted by Bill Wagner | November 13, 2007 10:58 AM

Posted on November 13, 2007 10:58

Ivan Chalif:

I would argue the balance is slanted heavily toward the content. There are plenty of times that I have signed up for an email newsletter or opt-ed in to get updates on a particular product/issue/etc. When the first email arrived, despite whatever noise might be going on, I opened and read it, but if the content was weak...delete. If the mailer failed to keep the content of subsequent emails interesting...delete. If the messages didn't come in timely fashion...delete, but lack of timeliness could be over-ridden by good content.

I have upwards of 10 active email accounts and each of them receives substantial volumes each day. I peruse them looking for nuggets, but I always know that when I see messages from certain senders, that whatever the subject line or cadence of mailing, the content is gonna be golden. And those are the ones that I ALWAYS read.

Posted by Ivan Chalif | November 13, 2007 12:37 PM

Posted on November 13, 2007 12:37

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the voices of email

The Email Experience Council's membership includes many of the brightest and most committed email marketing experts. We're pleased to have some of them share their insights here on these pages. Our blog contributors include:

Elie Ashery is the president and CEO of Gold Lasso, and is responsible for the company’s vision and strategy execution. Before joining Gold Lasso, he co-founded Newsletters.com in 1997, selling it to The Tribune Cos. in 2000. He then worked for IncenSoft, focusing on email marketing while there. Read more.

Amy Bills is the senior manager of field marketing at lead optimization company Bulldog Solutions. She is responsible for lead generation and the go-to-market execution of Bulldog's new products and initiatives. Amy was previously the editorial team leader of Freescale Semiconductor’s internal creative agency and a senior editor at Hoover’s Online. Read more.

Nicholas Einstein is director of strategic and analytic services at Datran Media. Specializing in email and CRM strategy, he helps some of America’s top brands leverage online channels to communicate more effectively with their customers and prospects.

Lisa Harmon is a principal at Smith-Harmon, a creative services consultancy dedicated to email marketing strategy and production. She works with marketers to increase clickthrough, maximize revenue, and infuse delight into their email creative. Lisa is also the blogger behind edm.smith-harmon.com, an ongoing commentary on the best (and worst!) in email marketing creative. Read more.

Chip House is ExactTarget's VP of marketing services, leading the teams responsible for client success. He was named to BtoB Magazine’s 2005 “Who’s Who in B-To-B,” for being a vocal proponent of legitimate commercial email and an active lobbyist regarding spam and privacy issues. Read more.

Spencer Kollas is the director of delivery services at StrongMail, helping maximize customers’ email deliverability rates. He was previously director of deliverability services for Premiere Global Services. Spencer is an active member in the Email Sender & Provider Coalition, Messaging Anti-Abuse Work Group, the Anti-Phishing Work Group and, of course, the eec. Read more.

Stephanie Miller is VP of strategic services for Return Path, the leading email performance company. She works with marketers to earn a higher ROI and response from their acquisition and retention email programs—developing content, contact and segmentation strategies, along with testing, measurement and production programs. Read more.

Erick Mott is the director of marketing and corporate communications for Habeas, the leader in email reputation management services. He has a rich background in marketing and communications strategy and execution for such companies as Nokia, MarkMonitor, GlobalFluency, Cisco Systems, Creator Connection, Sun Microsystems, Philips NV, Elm Products and CBS Television. Read more.

Jeanniey Mullen is the Email Experiene Council's founder and the global EVP and CMO of global online publishing company Zinio. She is a thought leader and visionary in the email and digital marketing field. A columnist for ClickZ, she has published numerous papers and is a frequent speaker. Read more.

Charles Stiles is the VP of worldwide business development at Goodmail Systems. In his role, Charles is focused on helping generate a better understanding of the email environment and potential solutions for a better consumer experience. He currently serves as the chairman for the Messaging Anti-Abuse Work Group. Read more.

Jeremy Swift is director of client relations for email service provider BlueHornet. He helped form BlueHornet’s founding team in 2000 and has been responsible for client services and marketing strategy since the company’s inception. Jeremy is known for his ability to articulate technical information in ways that clearly resonate with today’s online marketer.

DJ Waldow is an account manager at Bronto Software. He works with Bronto’s largest clients to help them achieve and surpass their marketing goals. An active member of the email marketing community, DJ posts regularly on the Email Marketer’s Club, publishes a bi-weekly email marketing best practices newsletter, and films BrontoFire.

Chad White is the Email Experience Council’s director of retail insights and editor-at-large. He founded and is the author of the Retail Email Blog, a blog dedicated to tracking the email marketing practices of the largest online retailers. Chad regularly writes major research reports on email marketing and is an Email Insider columnist for MediaPost. Read more.